LESSON 57

Today let us review these ideas:

1
(31) I am not the victim of the world I see.

How can I be the victim of a world that can be completely undone if I so choose?
My chains are loosened. I can drop them off merely by desiring to do
so. The prison door is open. I can leave simply by walking out.
Nothing holds me in this world. Only my wish to stay keeps me a
prisoner. I would give up my insane wishes and walk into the sunlight
at last.

2
(32) I have invented the world I see.

I made up
the prison in which I see myself. All I need do is recognize this and
I am free. I have deluded myself into believing it is possible to
imprison the Son of God. I was bitterly mistaken in this belief,
which I no longer want. The Son of God must be forever free. He is as
God created him, and not what I would make of him. He is where God
would have him be, and not where I thought to hold him prisoner.

3
(33) There is another way of looking at the
world.

Since the
purpose of the world is not the one I ascribed to it, there must be
another way of looking at it. I see everything upside down, and my
thoughts are the opposite of truth. I see the world as a prison for
God's Son. It must be, then, that the world is really a place
where he can be set free. I would look upon the world as it is, and
see it as a place where the Son of God finds his freedom.

4
(34) I could see peace instead of this.

When I see the world as a place of freedom, I realize that it reflects the laws
of God instead of the rules I made up for it to obey. I will
understand that peace, not war, abides in it. And I will perceive
that peace also abides in the hearts of all who share this place with
me.

5(35)
My mind is part of God's. I am very
holy.

As I share the peace of the world with my brothers, I begin to understand
that this peace comes from deep within myself. The world I look upon has
taken on the light of my forgiveness, and shines forgiveness back at
me. In this light I begin to see what my illusions about myself kept
hidden. I begin to understand the holiness of all living things,
including myself, and their oneness with me.